mardi 31 décembre 2013

Sunni monarchs back YouTube hate preachers: Anti-Shia propaganda threatens a sectarian civil war which will engulf the entire Muslim world

World View: There is now a pool of jihadis willing to fight and die anywhere

Anti-Shia hate propaganda spread by Sunni religious figures sponsored by, or based in, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies, is creating the ingredients for a sectarian civil war engulfing the entire Muslim world. Iraq and Syria have seen the most violence, with the majority of the 766 civilian fatalities in Iraq this month being Shia pilgrims killed by suicide bombers from the al-Qa'ida umbrella group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis). The anti-Shia hostility of this organisation, now operating from Baghdad to Beirut, is so extreme that last month it had to apologise for beheading one of its own wounded fighters in Aleppo – because he was mistakenly believed to have muttered the name of Shia saints as he lay on a stretcher.

At the beginning of December, al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula killed 53 doctors and nurses and wounded 162 in an attack on a hospital in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, which had been threatened for not taking care of wounded militants by a commentator on an extreme Sunni satellite TV station. Days before the attack, he announced that armies and tribes would assault the hospital "to take revenge for our brothers. We say this and, by the grace of Allah, we will do it".

Skilled use of the internet and access to satellite television funded by or based in Sunni states has been central to the resurgence of al-Qa'ida across the Middle East, to a degree that Western politicians have so far failed to grasp. In the last year, Isis has become the most powerful single rebel military force in Iraq and Syria, partly because of its ability to recruit suicide bombers and fanatical fighters through the social media. Western intelligence agencies, such as the NSA in the US, much criticised for spying on the internet communications of their own citizens, have paid much less attention to open and instantly accessible calls for sectarian murder that are in plain view. Critics say that this is in keeping with a tradition since 9/11 of Western governments not wishing to hold Saudi Arabia or the Gulf monarchies responsible for funding extreme Sunni jihadi groups and propagandists supporting them through private donations.

Satellite television, internet, YouTube and Twitter content, frequently emanating from or financed by oil states in the Arabian peninsula, are at the centre of a campaign to spread sectarian hatred to every corner of the Muslim world, including places where Shia are a vulnerable minority, such as Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Malaysia. In Benghazi, in effect the capital of eastern Libya, a jihadi group uploaded a video of the execution of an Iraqi professor who admitted to being a Shia, saying they had shot him in revenge for the execution of Sunni militants by the Iraqi government.

YouTube-inspired divisions are not confined to the Middle East: in London's Edgware Road there was a fracas this summer when a Salafi (Sunni fundamentalist) cleric held a rally in the face of objections from local Shia shopkeepers. Impelled by television preachers and the social media, sectarian animosities are deepening among hitherto moderate Sunni and Shia, with one Shia figure in the UK saying that "Even in London you could open the address books of most Sunni without finding any Shia names, and vice versa."

The hate propaganda is often gory and calls openly for religious war. One anti-Shia satellite television station shows a grouping of Shia clerical leaders, mostly from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, labelled as "Satan's assistants". Another asks "Oh Sunni Muslims, how long will you wait when your sons are led to be hanged in Iraq? Is it now time to break the shackles?" A picture of a woman in black walking between what appear to be two militiamen is entitled "Shia men in Syria rape Sunni sisters", and another shows the back of a pick-up truck heaped with dead bodies in uniform, titled "The destiny of Syrian Army and Shia soldiers". Some pictures are intended to intimidate, such as one showing an armed convoy on a road in Yemen, with a message addressed to the Shia saying: "Sunni tribes are on the way".

Sectarian animosities between Sunni and Shia have existed down the centuries, but have greatly intensified since the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the eight-year Iran-Iraq war that followed it. Hatreds increased after the US invasion of Iraq and the takeover of what had been a Sunni-run state under Saddam Hussein by the majority Shia community, which generated a ferocious sectarian civil war that peaked in 2006-07 and ended with a Shia victory. Opposition to Iran and the new Shia-run state of Iraq led to Sunni rulers emphasising the Shia threat. Shia activists point in particular to the establishment in 2009 of two satellite channels, Safa TV and Wesal TV, which they accuse of having strong anti-Shia bias. They say that Saudi clerics have shown great skill in communicating extreme sectarian views through modern communications technology such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, giving them a much wider audience than they had previously enjoyed.

An example of the inflammatory views being pumped out over YouTube is a sermon by Nabil al-Awadi, a cleric in Kuwait, who has 3.4 million followers on Twitter. His speech is devoted to "exposing the biggest conspiracy the Muslim world faces", which turns out to be a plot "conceived in Qom [the Shia holy city in Iran], and handled by sayyids and chiefs in Tehran, to get rid of the nation of Islam, aiming to desecrate the Kaaba [the building in Mecca that is Islam's most sacred site] brick by brick".

Mr Awadi relates that Iraq fell to an enemy whom he does not name, but he clearly means the Shia, often referred to as Safavids after the Iranian dynasty of that name. He says that in Iraq "they were killing the imams with drills in their heads until they are dead and they put the bodies in acid to burn until they died". But the speaker looks forward to a holy war or jihad in Syria, where a great battle for the future of Islam will be fought and won. He warns that "they did not know that jihad is staying and will put fear in their hearts even if they are in Washington, even if they are in London, even if they are in Moscow".

In Egypt, the Shia are only a small minority, but a cleric named Mohamed Zoghbi reacted furiously to the suggestion that they appear on satellite television to debate religious differences. "We would cut off their fingers and cut off their tongues," he said. "I must cut off the Shia breath in Egypt." Bloodthirsty threats like this have great influence on ordinary viewers, since many Egyptians watch religious channels continuously and believe the opinions expressed on them. An example of what this kind of incitement can mean for Shia living in communities where Sunni are the overwhelming majority was demonstrated in June in the small village of Zawyat Abu Musalam, in Giza governorate in Egypt. Some 40 Shia families had previously lived in the village until an enraged mob, led by Salafist sheikhs, burned five houses and lynched four Shia, including a prominent local figure.

Video films of the lynching, which took place in daylight, show the savage and merciless attacks to which Shia minorities in many countries are now being subjected.

Hazem Barakat, an eyewitness and photojournalist, minutely recorded what happened and recorded it on Twitter in real time. "For three weeks, the Salafist sheikhs in the village have been attacking the Shias and accusing them of being infidels and spreading debauchery," he told Ahram Online. Film of the incident shows a man, who looks as if he may already be dead, being dragged through a narrow street in the village by a mob. Among the four dead was 66-year-old Hassan Shehata, a well-known Shia leader who had been twice jailed under Hosni Mubarak for "contempt for religion". Police came to the village but arrived late. "They were just watching the public lynching like everyone else and did not stop anything," said Mr Barakat.

A significant sign of the mood in Egypt is that immediately after the lynchings, a TV host said that Mr Shehata had been killed because he had insulted the Prophet Mohamed's relatives. Several Salafist and conservative Facebook pages are cited by Ahram Online as having lauded the murders, saying that this was the beginning of eliminating all the three million Shia in Egypt.

Given that Shia make up between 150 and 200 million of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, they are a small and usually vulnerable minority in all countries aside from Iran and Iraq, though they are numerous in Lebanon, Pakistan and India. In Tunisia last year, a pro-Palestinian march by Shia in the city of Gabes was attacked by Salafists chanting, "There is no god but Allah and the Shia are the enemies of God." Tunisian eyewitnesses cite the influence of Egyptian and Saudi religious channels, combined with the Salafists claiming to be the last defence against an exaggerated threat of a takeover by Iran and the Shia.

The propaganda war became more intense from 2006 on, when there were mass killings of Sunni in Baghdad which, having previously been a mixed city, is now dominated by the Shia, with Sunnis confined to enclaves mostly in the west of the city. The Sunni community in Iraq started a protest movement against persecution and denial of political, social and economic rights in December 2012. As the Iraqi government failed to conciliate the Sunni with concessions, a peaceful protest movement mutated into armed resistance.

The enhanced prestige and popularity of the Shia paramilitary movement Hezbollah, after its success against Israel's air and ground assault in 2006, may also be a reason why Sunni governments tolerated stepped-up sectarian attacks on the Shia. These often take the form of claims that Iran is seeking to take over the region. In Bahrain, the Sunni monarchy repeatedly asserted that it saw an Iranian hand behind the Arab Spring protests in early 2011, though its own international inquiry later found no evidence for this. When President Obama said in September that Bahrain, along with Iraq and Syria, suffered from sectarian tensions, the Bahraini government furiously denied that any such thing was true.

Social media, satellite television, Facebook and YouTube, which were praised at the start of the Arab Spring as the means for a progressive breakthrough for freedom of expression, have turned into channels for instilling hatred and fear. Fighters in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and other countries beset by violence often draw their knowledge of the world from a limited number of fanatical internet preachers and commentators calling for holy war by Sunni against Shia; often such people are crucial in sending young volunteers to fight and die in Syria and Iraq.

A recent study of dead rebel fighters in Syria by Aaron Y Zelin of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation indicates that jihadi death notices revealing country of origin show that 267 came from Saudi Arabia, 201 from Libya, 182 from Tunisia and 95 from Jordan. The great majority had joined Isis and the al-Nusra Front, both of which are highly sectarian organisations. A deeply dangerous development is that the foreign fighters, inspired by film of atrocities and appeals to religious faith, may sign up to go to Syria but often end up as suicide bombers in Iraq, where violence has increased spectacularly in the past 12 months.

There is now a fast-expanding pool of jihadis willing to fight and die anywhere. The Saudis and the Gulf monarchies may find, as happened in Afghanistan 30 years ago, that, by funding or tolerating the dissemination of Sunni-Shia hate, they have created a sectarian Frankenstein's monster of religious fanatics beyond their control.

samedi 28 décembre 2013

The Sunni Muslim extremist group, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has made it clear that it wants to annex Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq. One of the biggest Iraqi military operations in recent history has now been launched against them. But it doesn’t seem to having any impact on the group.

The last few weeks in Iraq have been good to the extremist organisation, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The Al-Qaeda affiliated group managed to attack and assassinate a number of high ranking Iraqi army officers and policemen in a number of provinces, including Ninawa, Diyala, Baghdad and Anbar. All of these are known as places where the organisation, also called ISIS or Daash, keeps bases. They are also areas where a large proportion of the population is Sunni Muslim. Al Qaeda is a Sunni Muslim extremist organisation and it often targets Shiite Muslims – although recently it has also attacked Sunni Muslims it considers to be cooperating with the Iraqi government.

A few weeks previously, at the beginning of December, ISIS clearly stated that its ambition was to annex the Anbar province, which shares a border with Syria. The extremist group already has control over various areas in Syria and it seems it wants to add this part of Iraq too.

Attacks in Anbar cities like Fallujah, Qaim and Rutba, have been tactical and well planned and have involved not just the killing of security forces but the occupation or destruction of security forces’ outposts and command centres. This has seen the cities loose contact with one another to some extent.

And this is a bigger problem than it might appear at first. Anbar is one of the biggest provinces in Iraq and actually makes up about a third of the country. It has deserts and rugged mountainous landscape which makes it difficult for regular military forces to control it. The long borders with Syria, from where it’s assumed many of the extremists are coming, are also difficult to control. Additionally much of the population stems from Sunni Muslim tribes or clans who have always lived here and who are generally fairly conservative. Add to their conservative attitudes, the feeling that the Shiite Muslim-led government has marginalized them and persecuted them of late, then it becomes easier for extremist groups like ISIS to bring these tribesmen on side.

“Daash want to separate Anbar and annex it to areas under its control in eastern Syria,” Hakim al-Jumaily, a member of the Parliamentary committee on security and defence, told NIQASH. “But it seems that we have been too late in responding to this threat – our troops should have been preventing the infiltration of militants into the country from the beginning.”

One of the major problems in Anbar is how porous the long border between Iraq and Syria is. “We’ve been appealing to the federal government to control the borders here for the last nine months,” says council member Suhaib al-Rawi, who is on the local security committee. “But members of these extremist groups continue to cross over every day and nobody seems to be able to stop them.”

“The security forces here in Anbar have acted too slowly and the Iraqi army is also weak,” al-Rawi told NIQASH. “The result is that today members of Al Qaeda are crossing into Iraq, living with us, resting in their desert camps and then killing us.”

From the beginning of this wave of activity in Iraq, ISIS’ strategy seems to have had two major goals. Firstly the rehabilitation of military-style camps in Iraq in places like the Anbar desert region, northern parts of Salahaddin province, eastern parts of Mosul and northern parts of Babel. The groups had these camps previously but had been driven out over the past decade. Now however they are returning.

Secondly, the organisation has continued to wage a kind of guerrilla war on the streets of Iraq’s cities – it’s been successful in launching simultaneous waves of suicide bombings.

As the New York Times noted recently the group is sending suicide bombers into Iraq “at a rate of 30 to 40 a month, using them against Shiites but also against Sunnis who are reluctant to cede control”.

Local security analyst Asad al-Yasiri believes the guerrilla war has distracted Iraqi police and army from the construction of the camps and the border zone infiltration.

“Daash [ISIS] has been doing what it is known for around the world, with its guerrilla tactics,” al-Yasiri says. “This is all about chipping away at people’s morale with bombing and murder so that when the time comes for Daash to take control, they are ready to surrender.”

A senior office in the Iraqi army, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told NIQASH that the current operation in Anbar was the biggest military effort in Iraq since US troops withdrew in 2011.Recently the US has been aiding the Iraqi government in this by sending equipment to help in the fight against the extremists, the New York Times reported.

“We were very surprised by the size and number of Daash camps in Anbar,” he continued. “Three days ago we destroyed one of the camps and we found documents there that indicated there were 11 camps in four provinces.”

However it doesn’t seem as though the pressure being exerted on ISIS in Anbar is preventing it from carrying out other deadly missions. Recent events include the storming of a television channel in Tikrit, the capital of Salahaddin, that saw five journalists killed as well as an attack in Abu Ghraib near Baghdad that saw one commander and several officers and soldiers, killed.

It seems clear to many that the Iraqi military alone cannot defeat the extremist group, as it appears to have many cells around the country as well as plenty of back up plans. Many opposition politicians have pointed out that even the might of the much better armed, and more professional US army was unable to make much headway against the Sunni Muslim extremist group - until they enlisted the aid of local Sunni Muslims.

At one stage the so-called Awakening Movement - a home grown initiative dating back to 2006, which saw tribal groups with a Sunni Muslim background halting their fight against the US military and instead taking up arms against Sunni Muslim extremists – was considered the US military's magic bullet in Iraq. But more recently, and particularly since the withdrawal of US troops, the Awakening Movement has been neglected by the Iraqi government.

“The government needs to regain the trust of Sunni Muslims if it wants to fight Al Qaeda,” MP Shwan Mohammed Taha, a member of the Parliamentary committee on security and defence, said. “Sometimes a political solution like this can have a magical effect.”

Even US politicians apparently told current Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that this was a good idea, especially after ongoing demonstrations were held in many Sunni Muslim parts of Iraq to condemn al-Maliki’s policies.

However al-Maliki doesn’t seem to be taking a lot of notice of that advice. He recently said that the Iraqi military would need to move against Sunni Muslim protestors forcefully because the protests had become a hub for Al Qaeda extremists.

"I say clearly and honestly that the sit-in site in Anbar has turned into a headquarters for the leadership of Al-Qaeda,” news agency AFP reported al-Maliki as saying on state television last week. He also gave the protestors a deadline to leave. But it seems certain that if al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim politician, sends the army in against the Sunni Muslim protestors this will further inflame sectarian tension in Iraq.

As AFP also reported al-Maliki’s comments came after an incident that saw senior military staff killed in an ambush when they went to visit one of the ISIS camps in Anbar after it had been bombed from the air. Although the camp was empty ISIS members had left booby traps. So possibly al-Maliki was reacting to this event.

Still, it is clear that, as the country readies itself for general elections in early 2014, with all of the factions in play, both political and military, both inside and outside the borders, it still seems as though Iraq is on the verge of a very dangerous four months.

A man holds rosary beads as he inspects the ruins of a popular coffee shop after a suicide bomb attack in Tuz Khormato, 170 km (106 miles) north of Baghdad, July 17, 2006. (photo by REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed)

Minorities in Iraq are once again demanding autonomous areas or to have their districts joined to other provinces as a wave of attacks targets them in Salahuddin, home to a Turkmen minority, and Ninevah, home to minorities such as the Christians and the Shabak

Tuz Khormato, located in Salahuddin province, shocked everyone when the district council announced during a Nov. 25 news conference that it wanted the district to join Kirkuk province, instead of being affiliated with Salahuddin. Tuz Khormato has not been calm for years, and on a monthly basis the district is subject to bombings carried out by al-Qaeda or other groups the central government knows nothing about.

The provincial council made this call in light of the failure of both the Salahuddin provincial administration and the security agencies to protect the lives of citizens and to prevent terrorist groups from targeting them.

Vice President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Kosrat Rasul Ali welcomed this decision and stressed that he is in favor of returning the town to the province of Kirkuk.

The predominantly Turkmen district of Tuz Khormato was part of Kirkuk province until 1976. The regime of Saddam Hussein, however, detached the district from Kirkuk province from its four sides — Amerli, Bestamli, Suleiman Beik and Qadri Kerm — and appended it to Salahuddin province, which had been recently created under a presidential decree.

Political blocs had always called for declaring Tuz Khormato a disaster zone due to it being continuously bombed by al-Qaeda, as well as the lack of medical and educational services. Ali Al-Shalah, a member of the parliamentary State of Law Coalition, described the issue of returning Tuz Khormato to Kirkuk as “delicate.”

Shalah told Al-Monitor, “All of the political blocs need to give their opinion about this issue,” and stressed, “The opinions of those living in Tuz Khormato should be a priority, as they are the ones affected.”

A member of the Kurdistan Alliance, Hamid Bafi, pointed out, “Tuz Khormato was previously a part of Kirkuk province, and [this issue] must be reviewed within the framework of the administrative border law for these regions. These borders were manipulated by the former regime based on sectarian, political, ethnic and non-administrative grounds.”

Bafi told Al-Monitor, “Tuz Khormato is one of the disputed areas,” and pointed out, “The central government ought to address these areas, which have been unfairly treated by the former regime through Article 140 of the Constitution.”

Article 140, which relates to resolving the issue of Kirkuk and determining whether it will join the Iraqi Kurdistan Region as well as the powers of the Iraqi president, the powers of the Kurdistan Region and the distribution of wealth, is one of the most prominent points of contention between the central government in Baghdad and the regional government in Erbil.

“The central government should make haste to address this issue so that the residents can determine their fate,” Bafi said. He suggested, “Things staying the same in this region will not lead to the stability of Iraq,” adding, “This may affect relations between the Kurdistan Region and [our] brothers in Baghdad.”

Legal expert Tareq Harb told Al-Monitor, “No district council or provincial council in Iraq should issue a resolution to separate or attach a part of a province to or from another province, as district councils are not elected, but rather appointed.”

Meanwhile, Fawzi Akram Tarzi, a member of the National Turkmen Alliance, which is part of the Ahrar bloc, said, “Calling for attaching Tuz Khormato to Kirkuk is aimed at putting pressure on the central government, in order to rescue the district from the disaster it is experiencing.”

Tarzi told Al-Monitor, “The Turkmen have been the target of genocide since 2003 up to this very day, across all of the Turkmen regions without exception, especially in the ‘disaster zone’ of Tuz Khormato.” He indicated, “Some people in Tuz Khormato want to turn this district into a province in order to secure infrastructure, among other things.”

vendredi 13 décembre 2013

Ankara Extends Full Support to Iraqi TurkmenHasan Kanbolat, ORSAM Director

On the night of Dec. 6 I met with Erşad Salihi, Kirkuk deputy and leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC), and the ITC's executive board members in Ankara.

The weather was freezing. Salihi was treating himself to a nice dinner after some successful talks. The meeting between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ITC delegation, as well as the joint press conference with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, had pleased the ITC delegation. Salihi expressed his relief at Ankara's acknowledgement of his position as leader of the Turkmen. As a result, he raised the issue of the Iraqi parliamentary elections to be held on April 30, 2014. He received strong support from Ankara before the general elections in Iraq.

The Iraqi Turkmen are a priority for Turkey's foreign policy. Turkey pays great attention to the ITC, the most renowned and respected political representative of the Iraqi Turkmen. These actions further support and confirm Iraq's independence and territorial integrity.

On Dec. 5, Erdoğan received the ITC delegation headed by Salihi in his office at the İstanbul Haliç Convention Center. Erdoğan and Salihi had met before, in 2006. This meeting, after seven years, was quite amiable. The prime minister, noting that the upcoming elections in Iraq are extremely important for domestic political considerations as well as regional stability, underlined that the ITC leadership also has a great responsibility in this process. Erdoğan stressed that the protection of the rights and interests of the Turkmen in Iraq is an integral part of Turkey's Iraqi policy and that he raised this issue in their meetings and talks with the central Iraqi government as well as the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Davutoğlu met with Salihi and the ITC's board members on Dec. 6 at the Foreign Ministry. Speaking at the joint press conference held after the meeting, Davutoğlu stressed that the Turkmen are one of the major communities of Iraq under the national constitution and international legal agreements. He further underlined that it is important for the Turkmen to be able to speak their language and exercise their fundamental rights in the fields of education and local administration. The foreign minister also said the Turkmen have a crucial position in Iraq and that their interaction with other ethnic groups is vitally important, as it will contribute to the well-being of Iraq as a whole.

There are ongoing disputes over Turkmen-populated areas from Diyala province to Mosul. Despite these issues, the Turkmen have no armed forces or militias to protect themselves and their lands. This is why the Turkmen are the most frequently victimized community in Iraq. There have been many attacks against the Turkmen in Kirkuk, Tal Afar, Mosul and Tuz Khormato, as well as other predominantly Turkmen areas, and Turkmen leaders, politicians and businessmen have been assassinated. In June, ITC Deputy Chairman Ali Haşim Muhtaroğlu was killed in an attack. In August, an attack was staged against ITC Mosul Province Chairman Muhammed Ali Efendioğlu and Mosul Provincial Assembly member Lokman Necim.

On Dec. 1, an attack took place on Salihi's convoy in Tuz Khormato. These attacks show that the Turkmen have become the direct targets of armed assaults. The attacks directed against Turkmen leaders this year also show that the violence against them has become systematic. This violence seeks to minimize the political and demographic impact and influence of the Turkmen community in Iraq.

mardi 10 décembre 2013

AN ASSESSMENT ABOUT THE FINAL STATUS BY KAZANCI The Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) Coordinator and Turkey Representative Dr. Hicran Kazancı participated in a program ‘Halk Meydanı’ (Agora) broadcast by Türkmeneli TV and made important statements about the security status in Iraq, affiliating Tuzhurmatu with Kirkuk and the visit of ITF Executive Board to Turkey.

“ THE GOVERNMENT HAS LOST ITS LEGITIMACY”

Kazanci mentioned the attack on the Intelligence Department Directorate in Kirkuk and the conflict between the terrorists who occupied the shopping mall next to it and security forces and said that acts of terror had peaked in Iraq in the last term. Kazancı emphasized that terror attacks had reached dangerous proportions particularly in Kirkuk and Tuzhurmatu and said, “Intelligence units are the ones which ensure the survival of a country. If those units are compromised it means that security has departed that country and the government has lost its legitimacy because the government is tasked with ensuring the security of the citizens ”.

Kazancı also thanked Kirkuk Chief of Police General Turhan Abdurrahman for fighting heroically in the attack against the Intelligence Department Directorate. Kazancı indicated that combating terror was a task for police and that the military intervention in the attack against the Intelligence Department Directorate had been mistaken and said, “If General Abdurrahman would have been allowed to handle the situation the building would not have burned. The hostage would have been alive. The terrorists would have been incapacitated”.

“A TRIPLE MECHANISM SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED TO ENSURE SECURITY”

Kazanci indicated that a triple mechanism should be established to ensure security in the country and said, “This triple mechanism must consist of the central government, the Kurdistan government and the Turkmen”. Kazancı underlined that combating terror had become a global issues after the twin towers attack in the USA and said that Iraq could ask the United Nations, NATO and experienced neighboring countries such as Turkey for help in combating terror. Kazancı emphasized that resolution proposals should be made instead of condemning and issuing harsh statements for acts of terror.

CONNECTION TUZHURMATU TO KIRKUK…

Kazancı explained his views regarding the arguments about linking Tuzhurmatu with Kirkuk. Kazancı reminded of the request of Martyr Ali Haşim Muhtaroğlu for Tuzhurmatu to have a special federal status and said, “It does not matter where Tuzhurmatu is connected, if the place it is connected to cannot ensure its rights and laws they will demand for this. I am not insistent about where it should be connected. I want a solution to the problem”.

“TURKEY IS A COUNTRY ENVIED IN THE MIDDLE EAST”

Kazancı said that the AK party had been in government for 11 years and due to the courageous and solid steps taken by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Turkey had become the 17th strongest economy in the world. Kazancı indicated that because of the policies of the AK Party government Turkey had reached a position which was envied in the Middle East and said, “Everyone sees Turkey as a path-finding northern star and endeavors to follow in its wake”.

Kazancı indicated policy in the Middle East had been executed with conflict and tension for a long time and underlined that the Kurdish movement was in the center of this conflict. Kazancı said that that in order to control the Middle East the Kurdish card had to be played and continued by saying:

“Because of the courageous steps by AK Party Chairperson and Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey the Esteemed Recep Tayyip Erdoğan good relations have been established with Barzani. That is how the Kurdistan region established welfare, established democracy. He started the peace process within to stop the 35-40 year bloodshed. Turkey eliminated the middlemen and seized the initiative. Regional and global forces who were structuring policies over tension were disturbed in a major way by this.”

“THE IDEAS OF PRIME MINISTER ERDOĞAN ARE A ROAD MAP FOR US”

Kazanci underlined the fact that the people of the region did not want to part with the democracy, welfare and stability captured on account of Erdoğan’s courageous steps and continued by saying:

“That is what the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey is like … he is the prime minister of a party the success of which very few can replicate in the world … A party which came to power through democratic means and which has held that power in its hands for 11 years … To come together with such a prime minister and have him allocate two hours of his time under this hectic agenda is a matter of great honor and pride for the Iraqi Turkmen Front. The thoughts of such a leader are very important for us and qualify as a path finder, a road map.”

Kazancı indicated that Prime Minister Erdoğan had given the message that “The Turkmen are a priority in the foreign policy of the Republic of Turkey” at the meeting and said, “The Turkmen were always on the agenda of Turkey. Turkey always takes steps in Iraq which prioritize the Turkmen. Never mind what some local newspapers write”.

Kazancı said that the relations Turkey had established recently in Iraq had strengthened the hand of the Turkmen and steered them into taking courageous steps in Iraq’s policies and that the meeting with Prime Minister Erdoğan had been very positive as well as a source of honor for the Turkmen, the Iraqi Turkmen Front and the Iraqi people.

Kazancı reminded that after the AK Party came into power Turkmen rights had been on the agenda of all meetings which were held with the groups in Iraq and said, “They were always reminded ‘not to forget the Turkmen’. The presence of Turkey, being strong there and having good relations with Iraqi groups strengthens our hand”. Kazancı added that the objective of the black propaganda was to block Turkey.

“WE MUST DO SOMETHING TOO”

Kazanci emphasized that in return for the priority given by Turkey the Turkmen should also do something and said, “For us two centers in Iraq are very important. Baghdad and Arbil … We must have good relations with both and get our share of the power and be involved in the decision making mechanism. In addition there is a major benefit in working in coordination with Ankara”.

Kazancı also mentioned that after the meeting with Prime Minister Erdoğan the meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu had also been extremely sincere and said, “We must work seriously before and after the elections in order to ensure that the contents of these meetings do not stay there”. Kazancı also indicated that the messages imparted by Davutoğlu were significant for them.

Speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats in the European Parliament, former Foreign Minister of Estonia (2002-2005), especially in Iraq, draws attention to the massacres in the Turkmen minority. 14.03.2013 the knowledge of the Turkish and Muslim countries.

dimanche 8 décembre 2013

KIRKUK - A Nineteen year old Turkmen student kidnapped for ransom.Nine days ago, one of our relatives in Kirkuk, a 19-year old student, was abducted on his way home after leaving the University.

The kidnappers have contacted his parents by phone to say they want a ransom. As it is impossible for his family to gather the huge sum of money the kidnappers demand, the father is trying to negotiate with them.A nightmare!The abduction of Turkmens in Iraq (academics, political leaders, engineers, intellectuals, businessmen, children) has been going on for years and unfortunately there is no sign it will stop as the authorities and the police are not taking the necessary and urgent steps to ensure the safety of the Turkmen community.To me it seems that this is part of a plan to further weaken the Turkmen community, to prevent the Turkmens from playing a leading role in the Iraqi society.

“We are upset with the governor.”

The Turkmen are upset with the governor of Kirkuk over his decisions during the December 4th attacks as the Kurds neither protect themselves nor the Turkmen and they do not let the central government to do so, according to a Turkmen member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council.

Najat Hussein

Turkmen member of the KPC Najat Hussein told Kirkuk Now “The Turkmen are really upset with the governor over the attacks of the Iraqi Intelligence Service on December 4th.”

“The commander of the Tigris Forces offered to provide air support to control the whole situation but Najmadin Karim refused and opted to call backup forces from Sulaymaniah and those forces caused harm to a number of Turkmen houses and stores,” Hussein stated.

“The reality tells us, the Kurds are not protecting us and they do not allow the central government to protect us.

The Kurds claim that Kirkuk and Taza Khurmatu are parts of Kurdistan, and if so, why they do not offer any sort of protection to the Turkmen in those areas?” Hussein added.

Heavy armed clashes between a group of gunmen and security forces of Kirkuk lasted for more than 12 hours on Wednesday, December 4, and resulted in the deaths of 10 civilians and security members as well as leaving another 109 injured and with all of the six gunmen being killed.

Attacks against Iraqi Turkmen, which seem to have significantly increased in the past two years, could at this rate lead to the assimilation of Iraqi Turkmen and their leaving the Iraqi geography they currently inhabit, the leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) has said.

“Turkmen identity in Iraq risks being assimilated,” Arshad Al-Salihi, leader of the ITC who is on a visit to Turkey, told Today's Zaman in an exclusive interview. “In the last two years, both Turkmen and the geography in which they live have been a target of [terrorist] attacks,” he added.

Al-Salihi himself narrowly escaped a bomb attack against his life in Kirkuk when a roadside mine exploded on Sunday, while Salihi's vehicle, along with other cars in the convoy, was passing by.

Salihi, who also miraculously escaped an assassination attempt in 2011, says that for the future of Turkmen identity in Iraq, the general elections to take place on April 30 are very important.

Underlining that in a country deeply divided along ethnic and sectarian lines, he said it's essential for Turkmen to act together to be able to obtain more seats and be heard in the Iraqi parliament. He called on all Turkmen to come together for the elections under a common ITC list in Kirkuk, a city where Turkmen make up almost one-third of the population -- the city's demography having changed in favor of Kurds and Arabs with new settlements in past years.

Concerned that the Iraqi people may well vote based on their tribal identity, Salihi emphasized that they would have no discrimination towards any Turkmen based on sectarian belonging or political stance in the formation of the list. “We will announce a [common] Turkmen list in Kirkuk at the earliest time,” he said.

In an earlier attack against Turkmen, ITC Vice President Ali Haşim Muhtaroğlu and the former vice governor of Selahaddin province, Ahmet Koca, a Turkmen, were killed together with 13 people in bomb attacks in Tuz Khurmato, a Turkmen city in Iraq's Selahaddin province.

In Kirkuk on Thursday, seemingly al-Qaeda militants positioned at the top of a shopping mall launched an attack against a police station. At the end of a standoff lasting about an hour, the police killed the terrorists, but the mall was also largely damaged.
Turkmen paid $55 million in ransom since 2009

Salihi, who met both with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu during his visit, strongly believes that as part of an effort to drive Turkmen out of the area they live, Turkmen are also targeted economically. Noting that the owner of the mall, most of those who owned a shop in the mall and owners of most houses around the mall were Turkmen, Salihi said: “The Turkmen economy is also being targeted.” Since 2009, abducted Turkmen business people, Turkmen with various professions, have had to pay in ransom a total of $55 million to have their freedom.

Most of the Turkmen population in Iraq live in areas known as disputed territory, a territory between Arab and Kurdish territories and claimed by both Kurds and Arabs. Turkmen, whom Salihi describes as the cement for Iraq to remain unified, favor the unity of Iraq, because otherwise they would have to be torn apart between Arabs and Kurds in a potential armed conflict between Kurds and Arabs over disputed territories that include cities such as oil-rich Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmato among others.

As the Turkmen in Iraq are the only major ethnic group that does not have an armed security unit of their own, they become easy targets in terrorist attacks. “These attacks aim to push Turkmen from the region,” maintained Salihi, who believes that a possible break-up of the country, which he fears may come to happen, would be easier when Turkmen are not around.

Following a number of attacks in Tuz Khurmato this year, at least several hundred families left the town to settle down in cities such as Najaf and Karbala in the south of Iraq, while some of the families went to Kirkuk or to Turkey, said Salihi. The attacks against Turkmen, he believes, are also connected with Turkmen deputies having raised their voices in Iraqi parliament for the rights of Turkmen.
Turkmen demand own security force and territory

It's for this reason that Salihi thinks a security force composed of Turkmen, which neither the Iraqi central government nor the Kurds in the north of the country favor, is needed. “We would be suspicious of whoever is against the establishment of such a security unit,” Salihi said, underlining that Turkmen would never use the weapons either against the Kurds or the central government.

According to Salihi, Turkmen feel they have been denied their share in the government of the country and should have authority in the government of the region they live in. “A Turkmen region should be formed,” he said, citing Kurdish, Shia and Sunni regions in Iraq as examples. As to the Kirkuk province over which Arabs and Kurds nearly clashed in the past, the oil-rich city should, he believes, be granted a special, autonomous-like status whereby Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds jointly participate in the government of the province.Erdoğan should visit Kirkuk

Salihi, who met for the first time with Erdoğan on the occasion of his visit, sounded a little reproachful towards Turkish officials for their apparent lack of attention towards Iraqi Turkmen's problems. Although making a point of noting that Iraqi Turkmen are, in the first place, citizens of Iraq, he said, “I hope Turkey will establish closer ties with us [in the future].”

“We are meeting with Turkish officials less often than everybody,” added Salihi, implying that Turkish officials have in the past two years or so gotten together with Iraqi Kurdish officials more often than with Iraqi Turkmen.

Following a visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki to Turkey, Erdoğan plans to pay a visit to two capitals in Iraq, Bagdad and the Kurds' capital Arbil. But Salihi thinks Erdoğan must visit Kirkuk if he goes to Iraq. “If Erdoğan visits both capitals, he should absolutely also pay a visit to Kirkuk. Otherwise, Turkmen would feel hurt,” he stated.